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Realtors' Fees Are Pressured
As Low-Cost Competitors Gain

By

Patrick Barta Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

Updated Nov. 12, 2002 12:01 a.m. ET

The sluggish economy is already putting growing pressure on Realtors' commissions, but consumers will have to wait a little longer for the Internet to bring full-fledged competition to the real-estate world.

This past weekend, the biggest group of real-estate agents in the country found itself under surprising pressure from its own members to do something that would have been unthinkable only recently: clear the way for Internet-based real-estate brokers to provide more home listings and other services at a discount. In...